Brrrrrr

Wouldn't you know that the first real day of winter for the holidays came at the same time I caught a bad cold? I feel horrible. It started night before last and has escalated into a full blown, my head hurts, my nose is running, my throat is sore, cold. Gross, I know.

If you are out driving, don't be a Texan on the winter covered roads, have some sense. Slow down and don't be a butt.

Happy snowing!

Lighting

So I've been surfing the net and looking at different sights that feature images of houses, houses decorated. I find it funny that so many people put up enough lights on their places to line the eaves and start calling themselves the "Griswolds." It kinda makes me laugh, "you foolish person!"

I claimed that tongue and cheek title years ago, when we lined not only the eaves of the house, but the roofline, the driveway, the garden wall, the street, the trees and anything else that stood still with holiday green. The only thing that stopped me from carrying on that tradition is that I couldn't keep the breakers from tripping.

I've calmed with age, and also changed colors. You see, Christmas lighting is not just throwing up what's in the garage for the sake of decorating, it's coordinating. Placing the the lights all in the same direction, not going with a multitude of colors and trying not to have your yard look like Barnham and Bailey just moved in. There are a lot of those places, we've never been one of them.

Do me a favor. If you are going to claim to be Clark W. then at least be able to stay up with me when I start quoting lines from the movie. And, get a clue. Your lighting looks stupid if it's not done correctly. It takes more than just an expensive trip to Wal Mart. After all "we thought you enjoyed fruitcake."

Holidays

Well, Thanksgiving was nice. As the family ages, more and more little ones. I'm just not used to the energy these kids have. I've raised two who are now grown and in some ways miss the "pitter patter" but not the REAL noise.

The food was excellent but missed some of it's flavor due to being cold. Too much ready for the table too soon. Little kids to be taken care of and a lack of planning for the "launch" made it sit too long. We prepared the turkey at our house the Italian way. A bouquet of herbs, a sliced orange, an onion and some butter were the essence of the cavity of the 24 pound bird. It makes for a really unique taste. We did the same last year, so we thought we'd repeat it since it was a hit.

Christmas lights have been going up on our house for two days now. With about 30 strands of lights total, this years total blue is a chore but I'm sure it will be great. Speaking of hanging lights, I gotta get to work.

UFO?

Explode
Originally uploaded by banj.

Last summer on the 4th of July, the weather onTable Rock Lake was very abnormal. As we got situated on our boat to watch the fireworks display, the air was humid and cool enough that if you were in a bathing suit, you were probably not very comfortable. As the fireworks got into their groove, the smoke from the explosions stayed, hovering in one place. There was no breeze. With the humidity high, it caused an awesome spectacle. This is a freeze frame of a piece of video taken from that night. I've got much more footage, but the look of this one made you wonder what it really was....?